GHETS 2014 Year in Review Newsletter

A HUGE thank you to all of our supporters and partners who have contributed to our success this past year! As you will see in the following pages, GHETS has continued to grow its impact and remain a pivotal advocate on a variety of global health issues ranging from occupational health to water and sanitation to human resources for health. While GHETS may be a small non-profit, its size is in no way indicative of its impact. A unique hallmark of GHETS partners is that they are willing to take innovative risks. They are advocates for the health of their communities and we look forward to all that we […]

Recent weeks have seen a lot of U.S. news outlets focusing on Africa. At the beginning of the month, the White House, along with a number of major U.S. corporations and corporately oriented philanthropic organizations just hosted a forum with 45 African Heads of State that was meant to discuss and spur US interest in economic investment in Africa. At the same time, there is growing concern about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, increased by the decision to bring two Americans back to the U.S. to receive treatment. Here at GHETS, we cannot help but think about how these […]

This post originally appeared on www.seedgrants.org. We are so excited to launch this exciting new platform! We’ve been working hard to put together a new kind of crowdfunding website that will connect locally driven, innovative, and sustainable public health projects with interested donors. The underpinning of all of this work has been our sense of community. We believe that if we want to see positive change anywhere in the world, community is essential to make that change lasting and impactful. We see SeedGrants as an opportunity to connect dedicated community based organizations with a larger community. By building these connections, […]

An international, open access guidebook on Rural Medical Education was launched on April 5th at the 12th WONCA World Rural Health Conference in Gramado, Brazil. The Guidebook, which has been 6 years in the making, is a special project of the Working Party on Rural Practice of the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA). Consisting of 71 chapters written by 74 authors, it represents a unique collaboration, with contributions from every continent. It is intended to be a free resource for doctors, educators and others wanting to obtain practical ideas on implementing aspects of rural medical education and to learn […]

In 2009, while a fellow at the Center for Khmer Studies in Cambodia, I interviewed a pediatric nurse based at the Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap. Our conversation was short, but what I remember most about the encounter was my colleague’s answer to my question about why she had come to Cambodia in the first place. “Yes, I’m from Sri Lanka. But I’m in Cambodia now because I know what it’s like to live in conflict. Good health is important, especially for women and children. So I’m here because I understand the context and have the skills to […]

By Kamayani Bali-Mahabal Today across India, people continue to suffer and die unnecessarily due to poor access to affordable and effective health care and due to a range of social and economic determinants that promote ill-health and disease. Approximately 1.83 million children under five years of age die each year in India. This is the highest number anywhere in the world. One-third of all malnourished children live in India. The cost of health care is a leading cause of poverty. National Sample Survey Organization’s (NSSO) recent morbidity and healthcare survey estimates that around 63.22 million individuals or 11.88 million households […]

Every day, health workers provide life-saving treatment and care for people around the world. Despite an ever increasing workload, health workers offer a number of services to the communities where they work, conducting routine examinations, delivering babies, treating infections, and giving immunizations. As the backbone of every health system, health workers connect communities to the health system, and often provide the much needed local context necessary to successfully implement health interventions. However, the world is facing a critical health workforce shortage. 7.2 million more health workers are needed to meet the needs of health systems around the world. By 2035, […]